International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973

International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973 is a domestic war crimes law. The parliament of Bangladesh enacted the law to address the mass atrocities committed against the people of Bangladesh by the Pakistani Military Junta and their local collaborators during the 1971 liberation war. The Act is the first national war crimes law in the world, which was enacted before the formulation of the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Act replaced Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order 1972.

The Act provides a legislative framework for the detention, prosecution and punishment of persons for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law, and matters connected in addition to that. The Act applies ‘to any individual or group of individuals, or organisation, or any member of any armed, defence or auxiliary forces, irrespective of his nationality, who commits or has committed, in the territory of Bangladesh, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, any of the crimes mentioned in the Act'.

Although the Act was enacted in 1973, due to the rise of anti-liberation war political force after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the implementation was interrupted. In 2010, the first International Crimes Tribunal was established after making some significant amendments to the Act. Later in 2012, the second International Crimes Tribunal was established, which stopped its function in 2015. The Tribunals have successfully brought to justice many infamous war criminals, including Abdul Quader Mollah, Abul Kalam Azad, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Ghulam Azam, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.

While The Act was enacted and amended to establish higher standards of ‘proof’ and has contributed to the progressive development of international criminal law, certain propagandist from Bangladesh and abroad have been criticizing the Act to be inconsistent with the so-called international standards of adjudicating international crime. Consequently, they claim that the Act violates the due process of adjudication and infringes the right to a fair trial. However, such criticisms have not been correct as the 1973 Act ingeniously consolidates the jurisprudence preexisting laws, norms, principles, precedence, and practices of international criminal law, international humanitarian law as well as customary international law. Mizanur Rahman]